Elliott's Trackside Diner - May 2012

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

 

 

:

 

 

 

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

Partly sunny today with a high near 60F forecast...

Got some things done earlier this morning...actually sat down and started recording some tracks on to my DAW here...

Going to spend the next couple of hours doing the coffee and brekky thing...I like my morning coffee sessions....

to those in need....

Have a good day!!!

 

[blownout cylinder]

James:  Like those pix of the Dash 9 and lumber load!!

[LSWrr]

Good Morning All,

 

Went to the hospital Tuesday night to pick up my 24-hr urine bucket for Sundays test and found out the endocrinologist and the endocrine surgeon doubled my tests, not to mention they want a full blood test (12 vials?) Monday morning to compare the blood levels with the urine test.  Nurses said they are only pulling 12 vials and they will cross reference the blood work so I don’t need 24 vials pulled. I guess the values in your blood can change every 4-day so they want a fresh set with the urine.  The nurses at the hospital told me to drink as much water as possible before I come in because they are taking that much blood, but promised they wouldn’t take more than a pint, LOL.  Doc wants to do a full thyroid work up as well since they will have the hood open for the parathyroid they might as well fix the thyroid if they find anything wrong. At least they are using common sense and logic.

 

Curt are you using an automatic reversing circuit on the turntable deck to keep the polarities constant when you turn the locomotive?  If not I glued a train figure at each end of the turn table bridge, one has a red shirt and one has a green shirt to denote the polarities of the rail.

[gear-jammer]

Wow, Curt!  Your are moving quickly on the TT and yard.

Oh yeah, a large coffee, please, Chloe.

Sue

[Curt Webb]

Morning All,

Got some errands to run this morning then I will be soldering power leads and hooking them up. This is probably my least favorite thing in MRR'ing. Oh well it has to be done. Depending on how that goes I plan on re-testing all the service leads then doing a general reset and re-assigning track numbers in a consistent manner. Right now the numbers are jumbled because of my putting in different service tracks at different times.

Oz Jim- Sorry to hear about your Mother's friend. That loco looks great.

Lee- Glad they are checking everything at one time. The TT bridge has Auto Reversing built in. I have powered about 50% of the service leads and the only time I have had to change anything (switch leads) is the initial wire hookup to the control box. Of course you know how well I do with understanding electrical things so I hookup one track, power up, test, move to the next one. This is very time consuming but I know it's right. 

Everyone take care and prayers for those in need.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Packer

Jeff, I thought Ken was talking about the Santa Fe F9s you have. Looks like your F3 is a different phase than mine. is yours a stewart as well? Some of the very latest F3s looked like F7s, it gets kind of confusing with rebuilding and such as parts get switched around.

My F3B in the photo is a Varney unit and is indicative of phase I of the F3 development. My Stewart F3A is an early phase II. My P2K F3B is an early phase II. My F7A is an early phase I model. These phase differences are what are visible on your models. There were other phase differences internally that naturally aren't visible on your models and therefore aren't listed here.

EMD F3 Phases.

Phase 1: High flat topped 36" roof fans. Top third body panel had chicken wire in vent openings only. Short rear vent panel. Center third body panel with three equally spaced port-hole windows. Phase 1 F3 units are identical to the F2 in outward appearance except in number board size.

Phase II - Early: Top third body panel had full length chicken wire. Long rear vent panel. Center third body panel had two portholes, area between covered with chicken wire over four smaller rectangular openings.

Phase II - Late: Radiator fans changed to low pan-topped fans.

Phase III: Center third body panel has no chicken wire between portholes. The four rectangular opening now have louvres.

Phase IV: Chicken wire upper third panel is replaced with full length horizontal stainless steel grille.

EMD F7 Phases

Phase I - Early: Four horizontal louvred openings on center body panel. 36" dynamic brake fan if fitted with dynamic brakes. Square cab door corners with kick plates on steps beneath. Short wing window with square corners. Single drip strip over cab windows and door.

Phase I - Late: Upper grille changed to vertical-slotted Farr-Air grilles. Cab doors became round-cornered and the kick plates were removed. Wing windows became larger with round corners. Two drip strips, one over cab windows second over door.

Phase II: All upper grilles were vertical Farr-Air type. Center car body louvres became vertical slotted. 48" dynamic brake fan was introduced. In October 1952 rear body overhang disappeared.

EMD F9: The F9 can be reliably distinguished from a late F7 only by the addition of an extra filter grille ahead of the front porthole on the side panels on A units.

This is one of the F9 shells I got from Ken. The ONLY reliable identifying feature is pointed out.

 

[Stourbridge Lion]

Good Morning Modelers!

It's 54F and clear heading for the low 80's but needed rain is scheduled to find it's way here on Friday.  We are now listed in Stage #1 Drought restrictions which is nothing but does show it's a bit dry around here too.

Well, the bunny came back into the yard yesterday and when the wife spooked us we ran straight for the shed where he hide often during the day.  Since they can see ahead the bunny did nit notice the chicken wire I put across to holes and *BANG* head first into it.  The wife said he bounce straight backwards about 1 -to- 2 feet and then panicked until he got out of the yard to find another safe spot.  Neither of the adult rabbits have been seen since the bunny showed up so I think either the local Fox or one of the Coyotes might have gotten them.  They do tend to keep the rabbit population is serious check and even though this baby bunny is cute it is starting to be a pest so it's own it's own to stay safe as I've block it's only safe spot in our yard from access now.

Coffee is on me today...

[galaxy]

Morning, the coffee PULEEEZE...

I found this: It is in German, and I found it due to a travel panel on the AOL startup menu of a trip made by Jim Calio:

http://www.hsb-wr.de/

Maybe Ulrich can chime in here and offer his impressions!

You all can hunt/poke/click away to the links and look at the purdy pictures! You don't need to know German to see the steamers of your in that country.

Have errands to do of course!

Off and running...as soon as I am awake...

 

[Anonymous]

Huh? Did I hear someone calling my name?

Good Afternoon Gang!

Barry - keeping my fingers crossed that the docs are wrong, utterly wrong!

Lee - keeping my fingers crossed for the upcoming surgery.

Jeff - take care of those bloody footprints on the carpet!

This really seems to have turned into a sick ward, including my own health. I have some kind of an unknown infection in my body, which is resistant to any antibiotics known to my doc. There is no fever, I am just tired all the time.  I will go for some more testing in the next days.

Galaxy - I find that page a little confusing. Would you believe those steamers are just a 2 1/2 hrs. drive away from my place? With the current prices for gas - no chance to go there!

Prayers for all!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 73° and sunny. The high will be 85° and it'll be partly cloudy.

Nothing much going on today. I plan on mowing my parents yard either today or tomorrow. I want to give the wound on my foot a chance to heal a bit so I'm leaning toward tomorrow. Also I'm a bit bit more shaky today than usual so it's probably best to stay away from any type of vehicle today. That also puts the brakes on most model work. Perhaps a day of watching movies is in order.

[howmus]

Goooooooood  Morning Diners!

Oh, nothing.  Just thought I would say something different today....

Zoe I'll do the breakfast buffet this morning.  just bring my a mug of Dark roast coffee.  Yes, use the R&GV RR mug please.

I was up after midnight last night w*rking on the Powerpoint slide show for the Scholarship Dinner.  I am about 1/3rd finished with it.  I use powerpoint so little these days and with the upgrades, I keep having to go to "Help" to figure out where Micro$oft hid the things I want to do with it.  Most of my clinics are just a plain old fashioned "next slide" type of presentation.  This one needs to have all the bells and whistles put in and run all by itself.........

Looked at my Credit Card account this morning and see the Homabed order has now been charged to the account, so I figure I should receive the order I ordered over a month ago some time in the next couple weeks........

Lee, looks like they are being thorough before doing the surgery.  Likely a good thing.  I figure it does hurt any more to give a pint than it does to go in and get one little vial........

Barry, keeping you in my prayers!  Hope it comes back negative.....

Jeffrey,  watch the bleeding and get yourself to the emergency room if it doesn't stop and start to heal up.  Nothing to fool around with.  You don't need another full blown infection!

Curt, your progress looks great!!!  Keep updating us.

OK, back to doing some stuff needing to be done...

Later!

73

[cudaken]

 Morning Folks!

 Flo, Coffee Please.

 Vincent I still have the box the Santa Fe Freight Warbonnets came in. They are indeed F 9's stock number 5910. I am 95%sure they are the same engines that are still at K-10.

 Lee, Berry and others I wish you all the best of luck.

 Ken

[Cederstrand]

Italian Roast coffee in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please.

Enjoying all the layout pics being posted.

Have a great day y'all.

Cheers!  Rob

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Howdy ... 

We are having a major repair to our house to repair water damage. Our theory is the ice storm a couple of years ago damaged flashing where the garage roof connects with the house. Then, last year we had about two feet of rain in one month (april 2011) . Water has ruined the framing inside the wall.  This damage was not visible until I recently noticed some blackness on the drywall in the garage. So far, materials include a dozen 2X6's ten feet long, a half dozen sheets of plywood, tar paper, flashing, and shingles. We may need more of that plus drywall for the inside walls. 

Sigh ... If it isn't one thing, it's another. 

Curt ... TT progress looks great. 

Jeff .... Will Athearn truck detail parts fit on Stewart truck frames? I'm asking because Vincent is missing some for his Stewart F3B.  Perhaps, the Athearn parts are easier to locate. 

 

 

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

[quote user="LSWrr"]

  Doc wants to do a full thyroid work up as well since they will have the hood open for the parathyroid they might as well fix the thyroid if they find anything wrong. At least they are using common sense and logic.

Good Morning Gang,

Sorry, I slept in this morning and missed all those early risers.  (Vincent at 2:30 am)  what goes there?

LEE.  They are doing such wonderful work these days.  My Son (the new Father)  was going through a lot of changes several years ago, and they weren't nice ones either.  They traced it down to his Thyroid and after testing decided they were going to remove half of it.  That was successful but he will remain on some thyroid supplement for the rest of his life. But the good part is, he is back to his old self and happy pleasant personality, which he had lost. His hair has also stopped thinning and his wife says that she has her Husband back, as she felt that she had lost the Guy She had married.  So our thoughts and prayers are with you and your Doctors and I am sure you are in for a successful result of all of  your and their efforts.

Raining and cool here this AM, good day to stay inside. So seeing I have a couple of days off, I think I will.   Have lots to do inside before even looking at the LM&E, but trust me I will get there.

By the way,  I don't think I showed you a picture of my first Grandson.   Please meet Solomon,

He is a real good looking pleasant personality fellow,  just like his Grampa.

He is giving you all the "Peace Brother" sign,   or is it   "Draw two Chloe"

 

 

Best wishes and prayers for all our sick list Brothers here, may relief and healing come quickly.

Ya all have a good day now,  Ya hear ???

Johnboy out..............................................but not about

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Heartland Division CB&Q

Jeff .... Will Athearn truck detail parts fit on Stewart truck frames? I'm asking because Vincent is missing some for his Stewart F3B.  Perhaps, the Athearn parts are easier to locate.

I think they might. I remember using some Stewart brake cylinders on an Athearn. I had glue them on because the pins were too small I believe. He can try the Athearn parts but I think the mounting holes will have to be drilled out a little. If nothing else the pins can be cut off and the parts glued in place.

[cudaken]

Vincent I have Stewart truck parts, I never installed them.

 Got to go to work.

      Ken

[BroadwayLion]

[Packer]

Afernoon guys

I would have gotten on earlier but my sister had to be a computer hog. I couldn't get bowser's number to call them (I didn't write it down yesterday) so I have to try for tomorrow.

I haven't touched my NYC F3B. I'd have to remove the DB and the overhangs to make it right for the only BN F3B that operated in my era. I'm gonna show it to some friends to see if they are intrested in swapping. I could make an RCU out of it, butthat would be pretty much render it unnrecognizable.

Jeff, how do you explain some of the F3s with the F7 features? They were nicknamed F5s...

Ken, as long as they are an F9 or an F7, they should work for my use as BN units. F3Bs get kind of tricky as there were only a handful and only 1 lasted into my modeling era. Check your PMs.

Garry, hopefully you can get your house fixed. Would replacing the wood with steel help?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Packer

Jeff, how do you explain some of the F3s with the F7 features? They were nicknamed F5s...

Built from October 1948 through end of F3 production in February 1949. D27 traction motors with heavier-duty cables and higher capacity traction motor blowers were fitted. Other than that there was no appreciable difference.

[Curt Webb]

Evening All,

Just got done with supper and a post supper cup of coffee.

Today was a good layout day. I got all the service leads powered and tested with a locomotive, of course this was after I figured out the split ring thing on the TT, but in my defense it only took one mis-wiring to understand what was happening (that's a win for me). It just so happens all the leads I had previously powered were on the same side. I also put in RR ties back in the areas that had been previously removed. I put up the remaining outside final smooth wood finish to keep stuff from falling off the extension and painted it. The last thing I did was rearrange my work area next to the layout so now I have a more open area. Maybe more of  a extension????????. MOH would shoot me.

Tomorrow I plan on doing a little plaster cloth to smooth out the transition of the 2 sections of layout, then rust the rails and blacken the ties. Next week I should start landscaping. I have looked at a lot of pictures of  Pennsy yards (in color) and they are pretty much black with weeds. So I plan on mainly using black ballast with a little ground cover and weeds.

Broadway Lion- Nice modeling. I really like the B&W photo format.

Jeff- Please be careful with your extremities and take care of  yourself. 

There was more I  was going to say but I mislaid my notes so I am at a loss. Just another case of CRS.

Hope everyone has a good night and prayers for those in need.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Howdy ... Regarding F3's ..... This is my Stewart ABBA set of F3 phase 4's .... 

These is my Proto 1000 ABBA set of F3 phase 2's.

This photo shows an NP F3 phase 1 B unit by Stewart. It is a dummy unit between 2 F7A's made by MRC.

Those MRC's are nice running models, but did not sell well. They are out of production. The rivet counters did not like details on them.  They go for cheap prices if you can find them. 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Time for me to call it a night. Stayed off my feet most of the day and never once set foot outside. Have to mow the parents yard tomorrow weather permitting. The weather guesser is calling for a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms tonight and 60% tomorrow morning. It's looking damp. see y'all tomorrow.

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Janie, just a decaf for me, thanks.

I am almost done with the Program for the Scholarship dinner....  Just waiting on a logo for the performing group doing some entertainment for us (headed up by one of my former students). Then I will have it proofread by a couple people.  Finished the Powerpoint program for the Dinner as well.  I still have to create and print the actual Scholarship certificates, but that doesn't take too long.  There will be one person getting a new award in honor of a member of the committee who died a couple months ago.  It will go to the student who is the first in family to ever go to college.

Did manage to find some time to relax and do a few things in the train room.  It was mostly removing some more track I decided could be better if hand laid and a couple of bridges I built for the area a few years back.  I will build some better ones for it I think.  May be able to use one for the bridge requirementy in the Structures AP Certificate (NMRA).

Time to head out to bed.

Later!

73

[cudaken]

 GOOD EVENING FELLOW DINNERS!

 Flo, Beer for the house!

 Today was a good day!

 1 I am the Larry turned in his uniforms today! My only regret was I was not there to see it in person! Was told his New Truck Had a great flame job on the bed! Ding Dong the Larry is dead, which old Larry The Wicked Larry Ding Do Larry is dead!

  2 Mattress Giant Lawsuit. Mattress Giant had been the best job I had ever had. Then they changed the pay scale and took a mid $50,000.00 job and turned it into minimum wage job. But they still expect to do stuff off the clock like we where on salary.I was fired because I did not go to the bank off the clock. There was a class action suite and I joined it. To be honest I was glad to be out of there anyway.

 Got a E Mail from the lawyer today. I was hopping maybe $600.00 if I am lucky. I will be receiving $1325.45 in the next 30 days. While it is not a lot of money, it will help a lot.

 See you all later.

          Ken   

[cats think well of me]

Good evening everyone, about 1230 here in Lancaster and it feels good. 

Lion, I loved the black and white photo!

cudaken, I always liked when "I am the Larry" types did as that one did. That feeling of "boo-yeah!" rocks.

Watched the Bad News Bears, old and new versions, at work the last few nights and definitely liked the original the most by far. I couldn't believe they got away with some of the language and situations they'd used in the movie during that time period! A lot of fun to watch.

The meeting I mentioned the other day went really well, and I'm happy about that :)  

Alvie

[cudaken]

 Alive, I knew he would go down in flames, just not this way!

 Happy Friday!

                Ken

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!! Coffee and the Breakfast Skillet and could you throw some sausage gravy on it please. Thanks.

Sunny, with a high near 79.

Brenda’s Mother has passed. A blessing in a way. She was not going to get better. Shortly after I stopped in here and was seing what was going on, I got a call from Brenda saying her Mother had told the doctors and all she wanted off all the IV’s. As far as she was concerned if they were what was keeping her alive, then it, to her, was the same as the life support machines. She wanted to go home. The Docs said they didn’t think she’d make it home. She didn’t. Only made it about 2 or three hours before they put her on a drip and she went to sleep so to speak. Then bout 6 hours later she just quit breathing. I’m just glad it happened as quick as it did. The docs said it could take as long as a few days.

Brenda is now experiencing the grief and that strange guilt ridden feeling of relief I told her I had. They will make the plans with the funeral home today, and then the fun begins as the division of the small amount of assets begins. That’s when you’ll see the claws come out.

Aussie Jim- I’m sorry to hear of your friends Mother. Prayers for all the family.

Vincent- Usually when a girl looks at you a lot, she does have an interest in you, especially if she smiles when you catch her looking. Or..., you could have a nose sausage hangin. Don’t ask her why she’s staring, that’ll put them in the defensive mode. She may come back with something less than flattering because you've embarassed her. She wants you to notice her looking, but she doesn’t want you to point it out. Just do some small talk from time to time and if it gets awkward, just tell her you’re shy and things kinda come out wrong. Actually many girls find shyness, somewhat attractive as well.

Ande personally, I prefer the original Star Trek.

Welp, I haven’t watched Ziva yet this week so I best do that before I get withdrawals, then change the plugs in Brenda’s car and give it a test run before things pop up to stop me from that. Again.

Ya’ll have a good day!!!!

[LSWrr]

Good Morning All,

 

Thanks for the well wishes. 

 

All the pictures you guys are sharing look great….